The present invention relates to a defensive weapon, and more particularly to a spring whip which can be conveniently carried by a person and is available to be readily put into a whipping position for emergency use to disarm an attacker carrying and intending to use a knife, gun or any other type of offensive weapon.
The need for defensive weapons continues to increase along with the crime rate. While various types of defensive weapons are available, many of these require considerable time to assemble and place into an operative position. Others are only of the type which call for aid but do not provide an immediate weapon to defend the person being attacked. Yet other available defense weapons are lethal, such as firearms or chemicals, and are therefore of such a dangerous character as to be avoided by many people.
A particularly useful defensive weapon, which can be conveniently carried by a person and available for emergency situations, is a spring whip. A basic spring whip has been described in my U.S. Pat. No. 3,554,546 as a device which is formed of interconnected lengths of spring. The selected diameter of the springs provides a compact, telescoped arrangement which permits the convenience of carrying the device. The successive lengths of springs permit interconnection of the spring lengths in their extended position by having the diameters sequentially increased in size. The lengths of the springs are stored in a housing which also serves as a hand grip.
An improved version of the spring whip has been described in my U.S. Pat. No. 4,135,719. In the improved version, a weighted tip was placed on the innermost, smallest diameter spring, which served both as a closure for the housing and also to facilitate the projection of the springs into their extended whipping position. The improved spring whip also provided for a magnet placed within a cap in the housing which retained the springs in their stored position and prevented the possibility of having the telescoped lengths of springs accidentally moved into their extended whipping position. Furthermore, in order to facilitate disengagement after the extended spring lengths have been wedged into their projected position, an antifriction coating was placed at least along the edges of the lengths of springs which get wedged together.
While the improved spring whip, as well as the basic spring whip, have both been found quite useful and effective, further improvements would be warranted in order to facilitate projection of the spring lengths and avoid any possibility of locking of adjacent lengths of springs during movement between the retracted, telescopic stored position and the projected, extended position. Furthermore, although the wedging effect of the previously described spring whips is normally sufficient to retain the spring lengths in their extended position, occasionally it is desired to securely lock them in this position to avoid the possibility of their being accidentally telescoped together during emergency action. Also, other improvements would be warranted in order to avoid damage to the spring whip during utilization and to preserve the structural elements forming the spring whip.